Major League Baseball will take over broadcasts of San Diego Padres games starting Wednesday after Diamond Sports defaulted on rights payments to the regional sports network’s parent company and let its grace period expire.
Diamond Sports, which owns 19 networks under the Bally Sports brand, said in a statement that it had decided “not to provide additional funds to the San Diego RSN that would allow it to make royalty payments to the San Diego Padres during the grace period.” and will no longer broadcast Padres games after Tuesday.”
How to watch San Diego Padres games
Through Sunday, June 4, MLB will stream Padres games for free with an MLB login at MLB.com, Padres.com and on the MLB apps.
Padres games will be available to MLB.TV subscribers and will air on the following cable channels:
- Cox – channel 4
- AT&T U-verse – channel 781
- DirecTV – channel 694-3
- Spectrum – channel 305
MLB.TV allows fans to stream games online and on apps like Roku, Samsung TV, and Amazon Fire TV. An annual subscription for a single team is usually $119, but Padres fans can secure the deal for $74.99, or $19.99/month, for the remainder of the 2023 season. A 7-day free trial is also available . Learn more here.
“By offering a direct-to-consumer streaming option on MLB.TV on Club territory for the first time, MLB is able to lift the blackout for previously distributed Padres games on Bally Sports San Diego,” MLB said in a news release. .
Padres games are also available to stream with a Fubo subscription.
MLB and the Padres
The Padres become the first team that MLB will take over the production of their broadcasts. MLB established a local media department during the offseason to prepare for Diamond Sports’ bankruptcy filing, which took place in March.
The announcers are not expected to change as they are team employees.
“We have been preparing for this groundbreaking moment,” Padres CEO Erik Greupner said in a news release. “The Padres are excited to be the first team to partner with Major League Baseball to offer a direct-to-consumer broadcast option through MLB.TV without blackouts while preserving our in-market distribution through traditional cable television providers and satelite. Our fans will now have unprecedented access to Padres games across digital and traditional platforms throughout San Diego and beyond.”
Why did this happened?
The Padres signed a 20-year, $1.2 billion contract with Fox Sports Networks in 2012. Diamond Sports Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group purchased The Walt Disney Co.’s regional sports networks for nearly $10 billion in 2019. Disney was sued by the Department of Justice will sell the networks to get approval for the acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s film and television assets.
Diamond Sports is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the Southern District of Texas. Diamond said in a financial filing last fall that it was $8.67 billion in debt.
Diamond cited the amount of royalty payments to the Padres and the small market area compared to other regional networks as to why he was pulling out.
Diamond owned 80% of Bally Sports San Diego and the Padres owned the other 20%. It was one of six regional Diamond networks where MLB teams are minority owners. The others are the Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, and St. Louis Cardinals.
With the Padres out of Bally Sports, Diamond has the rights to 40 professional teams: 13 in baseball, 15 in the NBA and 12 in the NHL.
A hearing will be held Wednesday on whether Diamond can reduce his royalty payments to the Cleveland Rangers, Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks.
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